Gov. Rick Scott sent out a letter on Monday, urging school superintendents across the Sunshine State to finalize agreements to increase teacher pay which was one of his chief legislative priorities this year.

The letter reads as follows:

Libertarian think-tank Reason Institute unveiled a study focusing on high-speed rail in Central Florida. Wendell Cox and Adrian Moore argue in the study that the state of Florida will be facing major defecits if high-speed rail connects Tampa and Orlando and Gov. Rick Scott was wise to avoid it.

Conservative educator and businessman Richard Bishirjian is set to launch a new higher ed initiative based out of Gainesville. Bishirjian, an editorial adviser for Modern Age, founded Yorktown University in Colorado (full disclosure, I worked for that school briefly back in 2006) and Yorktown University of the Americas here in Florida.

The Obama administration promised to fix the federal health-care program website, which has been plagued by technical issues, by November 30. With the site still having problems, the Republican National Committee (RNC) went on the attack on Monday, launching a new Web video attacking President Barack Obama and his signature law.

The Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles kicked off Older Driver Safety Awareness Week with safety tips on Monday.

Over at the New Republic, Nate Cohn argues that Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin is the front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination in 2016. Cohn presents an interesting case for Walker as acceptable to a broad host of Republican primary voters. In the piece, Cohn offers a quick look at how the odds of Gov. Bobby Jindal of Louisiana and U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla. winning the GOP nod have dropped considerably.

Conservative group American Action Network is running cyber ads attacking U.S. Rep. Patrick Murphy, D-Fla., for backing President Barack Obamas federal health-care law on Cyber Monday.

Americans know a bad deal when they see one, said Emily Davis, a spokeswoman for American Action Network. Obamacare champion Patrick Murphy is running for cover after selling Floridians a bag full of broken promises, but Floridians arent foolish enough to buy his dishonest spin.

Murphy is a top target for Republicans in 2014.

Supporters of drafting Dr. Ben Carson to run for the Republican presidential nomination in 2016 are claiming momentum. John Phillip Sousa IV, great-grandson and namesake of the celebrated composer of patriotic marches, is leading the national "Draft Ben Carson for President" committee and sent an email out to conservatives this weekend to make the case for his candidate, noting that more than 200,000 Americans ... have signed the petition urging Dr. Ben Carson to run for president of the United States.

The Republican Party of Florida (RPOF) took aim at former Gov. Charlie Crist on Monday, attacking its former standard bearer for supporting President Barack Obamas federal health-care law. Crist had been a Republican for much of his political career but in 2010, after supporting Obamas federal stimulus, he left the GOP to continue his bid for the U.S. Senate with no party affiliation. After backing Obama for a second term, Crist joined the Democrats at the end of last year.

Former U.S. Sen. Bob Smith, R-N.H., said back in October he would not run for the U.S. Senate in New Hampshire. But over the weekend, Smith, who made two bids for the Senate in Florida, said he would run to challenge U.S. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., in 2014.